The poor Essential phone launched by the cofounder of Android, Andy Rubin, was expected to be groundbreaking. When the founder of one of the most widely used operating systems in the world went on to manufacture a phone. It was anticipated that the phone will be the best marriage of software and hardware because the manufacturer has deep software and hardware understanding. It happened so as well.
But apparently, the sales and marketing strategy of the company was what led to dismal sales of the smartphone. According to a speculation derived from the number of official downloads of the Essential Camera application, only 50,000 Essential phones have been sold so far.
The Essential Camera application only works with Essential phone so the number of downloads can be used to figure out the sales of Essential phone as well.
By the end of September, it was reported that the company has been able to sell only 5,000 units; a very disappointing number. If that number is considered to be the point of reference, the last three months have turned out great for Essential as the sales numbers have bumped.
The initial price tag of the device can be one of the major reasons for such low number of sales. Initially, the phone was introduced for $700; a price tag not suitable for a new entrant in the smartphone arena. Then the price was permanently dropped to $499 and an additional $200 discount was given to friends and family of smartphone buyers.
Still, if the sales are compared to even Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Oppo, Xiaomi or even OnePlus. The numbers don’t add up much. Perhaps, Andy will be working on a better and effective sales strategy for their upcoming launches.
Image – MKBHD.
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